At Monday’s Kinston City Council meeting, City Manager Tony Sears told the board the proposed 2014-2015 budget had an $800,000 shortfall.

After a Tuesday meeting with the department heads, Sears said the numbers are much better, but there is work to do.

“We’ve made more budget cuts, found some more revenue and revised our numbers,” Sears said. “The budget isn’t at zero, but we’re about $200,000 out. We’re still dealing with the electric side of the budget. There was talk about a 1 to 1.5 percent increase this year, but we won’t do that because of the negotiations with Duke Energy. We don’t want to make drastic moves altering the landscape of the deal.

“We’re shooting to have everything veered out by Monday. The electric portion is just tricky.”

Councilman Sammy Aiken said there are issues in the budget and there needs to be a way to create revenue without affecting the residents.

“We’re listening to everyone in the finance office, and we don’t want to raise property tax,” Aiken said. “The department heads are all in need of special products and technologies, and we just have to find a way to make things work.”

Councilman Wynn Whittington said he trusts the budget will be finalized soon.

“We want to have time to discuss it and recommend any changes or cuts,” Whittington said. “It has to be approved by July 1, so time is of the essence. We’ve got pressing matters with roads needing repair, infrastructure needing to be addressed and improving the quality of life. I want to see a budget that is balanced, tried and tested. If there are any cost-saving measures, we’ll take a look at them.”

The next city council meeting is at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 19.

Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.